The Houston Astros are finding Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, Calif., much to their liking.
Houston has racked up 24 runs, 35 hits and eight homers over the past two games. The Astros will aim to do more damage on Thursday night when they finish a four-game series against the Athletics in their temporary home.
The A’s won the opener 3-1 before the Astros’ offense went into a frenzy. Houston won 13-3 on Tuesday and followed up with a 11-4 victory on Wednesday.
“When you come to a ballpark like this, you feel like you’re never out of a game,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “You need to attack it and continue to add runs. We’re using the whole entire field and that’s exactly what we want. … We want to create opportunities by being aggressive in different ways.”
Jose Altuve and Victor Caratini each hit a three-run homer during a seven-run sixth inning as Houston turned a one-run game into a blowout.
Mauricio Dubon homered for the second straight day. Dubon played his final two seasons of high school ball in Sacramento.
Contributions were everywhere for a team that has won seven of its past eight games. Altuve, Caratini, Jake Meyers, Jeremy Pena and Cam Smith had three hits apiece as the Astros finished with a season-best 20 on Wednesday.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Meyers, who turned 29 on Wednesday. “I believe hitting can be contagious and that’s kind of how it was (Wednesday). Everybody put together great at-bats and great swings.”
Smith is 7-for-9 in the series with two homers and two doubles. Both of the blasts came on Tuesday.
Smith is the first Houston rookie with seven hits over a two-game span since Josh Anderson in 2007. Anderson did it twice, bordering a 5-for-5 game on Sept. 16 with two hits the day before and two more the day after.
The Athletics had won a season-high four in a row before getting torched the past two games. The club has allowed 10 or more runs 18 times, most in the majors.
Rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz continues to thrive and was 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs on Wednesday.
“That’s the big bright spot,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “This kid is continuing to impress, he is continuing to take great at-bats. The power is there as you saw.”
Kotsay wasn’t pleased with his bullpen or his defense. The relievers gave up nine runs in four innings while some balls that snuck through the infield irritated Kotsay.
“These groundballs that are getting through the infield need to be addressed,” Kotsay said. “It needs to be solved because it adds up the pitches and puts more pressure on the pitching staff. …
“We had two outs and nobody on and ended up giving up a seven-spot. That doesn’t happen every day.”
Left-hander Colton Gordon (2-1, 4.70 ERA) will make his seventh start of the season for Houston.
Gordon, 26, picked up his first career victory against the Cleveland Guardians on June 6 and followed up by beating the Minnesota Twins last Friday. He gave up two runs — both on homers — and six hits over a career-best six innings against the Twins.
Gordon has exhibited stellar control with 30 strikeouts and just four walks in 30 2/3 innings.
Left-hander Jacob Lopez (1-4, 4.80) is coming off his first victory of the season for the Athletics. He gave up three hits and matched his career high of nine strikeouts while blanking the Kansas City Royals for six innings in a 4-0 win.
It marked the second time in three starts that Lopez fanned nine. He has struck out 40 in just 30 innings.
Lopez has yet to face the Astros in his career.
–Field Level Media
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